SPRING FORWARD

– Lots of goings on in New York…
building activity,,, a round tower going up,
off-Broadway at 45th…

– The 9th New York Book Fair,
the 11th Avenue street food-fair,
crackdown of drivers running red lights…

– Celebrations in Central Park,
the outside of many subway cars
painted clean…
subway repairs,
thousands ride bicycles,
the theater thrives,
people still walk
as if trying to outmaneuver time….

– A case of murder –
a 33-year-old Jordanian immigrant
cigar-store owner, shot & killed during a hold-up,,,
on Broadway, near 104th St.

– The police leave a hand-written notice
on the shuttered entrance,
asking for the public’s assistance
in solving the murder…

– Red & white flowers are left at the door
by neighborhood residents –
“He was a good man,” says one,
“Always gave candy to the neighborhood kids.”

– The slain man left a wife & five children –
the widow will return to Jordan.

– It has rained a lot,,,
the pizza-by-the-slice places
still pack them in –
pedestrian matadores defy traffic,
buses squeeze in & out of spaces
not meant to be squeezed in & out of…
the lunch crowds surge along Madison Avenue,
5th Avenue, Avenue of the Americas, Broadway…

– A new breed of young cop patrols the city,,,
in cars, on foot, on horses ///
“They have a lot of spirit & enthusiasm,”
says one of their superiors… “But they’re too used
to riding the subways – they’re lousy drivers.
One totaled two cars in three days.”

– The sidewalk fruit store at Broadway & 95th…
still open at 2:45 a.m.